Friday, April 24, 2009

Week 3.1; Day 1

Many thanks to all of you for your encouraging comments. This blog and every one's comments are really helping me stick to this. I look forward to posting my status and reading comments, and that gives me even more motivation to get out there and keep goin'!

Last night I started my 6th week (holy cow!). I'm repeating week 3: Brisk five-minute warm up walk, then do two repetitions of the following: Jog 200 yards (or 90 seconds); Walk 200 yards (or 90 seconds); Jog 400 yards (or 3 minutes); Walk 400 yards (or 3 minutes).

In response to a commenter - I am doing the "Couch to 5k", which is much less aggressive than the "Couch to 10k" program. I can't find the link at the moment that I found it from but it is a 9 week program that works you up to jogging 3 miles in about 30 mins. That one was much more appealing to me as a complete beginner who had never jogged before. I copied the program into a spreadsheet (along with instructions for runners' stretches that I found) which I use to track my progress.

So, last night I got home from river's agility class around 9:30 and came into the house with the intention of going right back out again. I have to do this or else the comfy couch, the mesmerizing computer , or the nagging pile of dishes will capture me and severely lessen my motivation. I succeeded; fed/watered river, changed, and went right back outside.

Unfortunately, river has begun a bad habit of trying to poo right in the middle of my 5 min warm up walk... what the heck, dogface?! I give him plenty of time and opportunity to "go" before we leave but noooooo he needs it to be exercised out of him. Cleaning up poo from some poor person's yard, in the dark, with a flashlight is NOT my idea of a good time.

Poo issues aside, I did well. It is still trying, and I probably go much slower than I should, but I am able to push myself to jog the entire intervals much more easily than I was on Week 3; Day 1. Since I am repeating, I decided to push myself to go a little faster each day of week 3.1. Last night, I ended the last 3 min walk right before my driveway which was a couple houses further than I have gotten before. I decided to loop one more time, which made my last 3 min walking interval actually about 9 mins. Grand total of 6 loops / 1.8 miles.

I feel like going out right now for an early day 2 but I can't :/ Work has been crazy the past few days and I should really be working right now, not writing this post. I've also been wanting to write a non-running related post but that has been pushed off because of work as well.

Hope everyone has a happy weekend!

5 comments:

  1. Man I wish I could run. With my back it's more of a semi fast limp!

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  2. I really should get off my ass. I have no excuse...

    G

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  3. I'm impressed with your dedication!

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  4. Heather: that's exactly what I was afraid of with my knee ;) I'm sorry about your back - injuries, especially long lasting ones, suck.

    Geohde: you have TWO excuses! named Saag and Naan :) hehe

    Me: thanks! not quite sure it's actually "dedication" yet... check back in a few months! ;)

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  5. Sounds like you're doing awesome, and really, re the "going slower than I should", I wouldn't personally worry about it yet. Right now you should focus on getting out and doing it, and being proud that you did. Once you've been doing it a long time, THEN you can pick up your pace. Already you're doing so much more than you used to, so you can be proud of that even if you are slow - I'm super slow and while sometimes it's frustrating, it's also amazing that I'm even out there kicking ass:-)

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